


One Step Forward Another Step Back

by RyuUmi



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Angst, Anti-hero Tadashi, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-09 22:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3266711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuUmi/pseuds/RyuUmi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One brother is learning to move on, while the other clings to the past.</p><p>Two years after defeating Callaghan, Hiro and Baymax fall into an alternate timeline where Hiro had died instead of Tadashi.<br/>As Gogo, Honey, Fred, and Wasabi find a way to get Hiro back to his original timeline, Hiro searches for a way to help Tadashi move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It didn’t take a genius like Hiro to realize, with the wind whipping wildly against his bird nest hair and the creeping flow of adrenaline pumping into his veins, that he was falling. But he wasn’t scared by that. No. He was more frightened by the endless darkness that shrouded his eyes -- by the darkness that remained unchanging and immovable even as Hiro swiveled his head from side to side. It was almost as if Hiro was falling through something and nothing at the same time, and that messed with his mind.

To his surprise, a pair of large soft arms were suddenly wrapping around him in a tight hug, pressing his back up against a round convex surface. That must be--

“Baymax?” Hiro called out, his voice resonating against nothing. No echo was heard whatsoever; he was assuming there were no walls.

“Hiro.”a soothing robot voice replied. “We are falling.”

“You think?!” the teen groaned. His eyes continued to dart about in the darkness. If he could at least figure out where they were, maybe he would have a better understanding of their current predicament. “Baymax, scan the area real quick for me. Where are we falling to and from?”

“Scanning.” A brief pause. “I am sorry, Hiro. My scanners and memory database both appear to be damaged and therefore are unable to function properly.”

“Just great.” Hiro muttered, his hair continuing to lash against his face.

How did they even get into this mess in the first place? Hiro found it stranger that he didn’t even know the answer to that question. He remembers opening his eyes to darkness and the stomach-lurching feeling of falling, but anything right before that… It was a blur in his mind. A messy, hazy blur.

“Looks like my memory database isn’t functioning properly either.” Hiro murmured under his breath, attempting to dig through what he could remember.

Before he could recall a single trace of his memories, he noticed, out of the corner of his eyes, a slight change in the values of the… well, wherever they were falling in. A very subtle and gradual shift from pitch black, to dark grays, to lighter grays, and now whi--

“Brace for impact, buddy!” Hiro called out as he squeezed his eyes shut.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were times when Hiro was reminded how grateful he was that Baymax existed and how especially grateful he was that Baymax was a robot successfully designed for his purpose; this time in particular was no exception. As the pair crashed into a pile of wooden crates, Baymax’s squishy vinyl body merely bounced down the pile however not quite in a manner as playful or gentle as it sounded. To Hiro, it felt like being trapped in a claustrophobic barrel and rolling down a rocky mountain, and that wasn’t really his definition of pleasant. However it was either this, or ending up like that messy donut that splat onto the cafe floor after one of Aunt Cass’s breakouts.

As the pair hit the solid ground, Baymax’s grip loosened, sending Hiro to land off to the side, face-first on the cold, metal ground with a grunt.

“Ugh!” Hiro groaned as he shook his dizzy, sore head. He lifted his eyes slowly to examine the finally visible surroundings.

All he could see were wooden boxes. Wooden boxes everywhere. A shipping warehouse?

Waddling over to the crouching teen, Baymax said, “ I apologize for being unable to hold you Hiro. On a scale of one to--”

“Zero, zero. I’m fine, Baymax. Lets just figure out where we are first.” Hiro said, brushing the dust off of his cargos as he got up. He looked around once more. “Weird. This place is kind of... familiar.”

He wasn’t quite sure how or why though. It wasn’t like he spent his free time hanging out in warehouses.

“Due to the damaging of both my memory database and scanners, I am unable to verify our current location.” the robot stated prosaically.

“Hm. Guess we’re gonna have to fix that at the university.” Hiro mumbled as he continued peering around some crates. It didn’t seem like anything suspicious was around. Nothing waiting to ambush them or anything of the like, but even so, he couldn’t help but be a little wary. When weird things happened, it was usually the work of a more dangerous criminal or somebody trying to deliberately take down the Big Hero 6, which is something they’ve had too much of already. It wasn’t easy being super heroes when you’re making new enemies left and right, but that's also what influenced Hiro to create a small portable cube designed to carry each person’s suit with convenient portability. So that they could be ready for anything. And although he had Baymax’s and his own cubes with him it wasn’t like he could just immediately whip out their suits and jump into action; it took a bit of extra time to put on Baymax's suit. That was something Hiro would have to work on. “For now, lets just stay on our toes.” Hiro said cautiously.

The pair continued to maneuver their way through the path swamped with boxes, with the teen swiveling his head out of precaution, as his healthcare companion followed close behind. Without Baymax’s usual side comments or constant scanning of Hiro’s rising heart rates and increased breathing, it was eerily quiet, save for the light shuffling of the robot’s feet.

The teen noticed a bright light leaking into the dim warehouse from a set of double doors a distance in front of him and walked towards it with alert eyes.

_If we’re getting close to the exit, and nothing has happened yet… maybe someone wants to catch me off guard trying to open those doors, and make their move to ambush me then. And if I had to take a guess, I’d bet that those doors will be locked from the outside._

It would be more convenient if Hiro could just simply scan the area and figure out whether there was some other life form here or not. That would either ease the teen’s mind or confirm his suspicions and make him even more nervous. But it was just his luck that Baymax’s scanners were botched up; maybe that was a part of his, possibly existent, ambusher’s plan.

As the pair got closer and closer to the doors, Hiro’s could feel his heart begin to pound at his chest.

_Alright. Getting closer to the exit. Just several more steps. A few more steps. One more step, and---_

Hiro spun around on his heels, squeezing his eyes shut as he raised bare fists.

Silence.

He cracked open an eye. Wooden crates…. no criminal.

_Suspicious._

Glaring once more into the dim warehouse, the teen put his weight behind him and pressed his back against a door, finding it to his surprise to be unlocked. He took one step back, eyes darting left and right, then another… and another… and finally…. He held the door open for Baymax to waddle through.

Hiro’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Weird. But honestly how much weirder could his life get? Weird was pretty much the norm for him at this point. Falling through that abyssal black hole was a good reminder of that fact.

“Lets go, Baymax.” Hiro said as he took one more look behind him at the warehouse’s closed doors.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two didn’t go anywhere the moment they stepped outside into the bright, presumably, afternoon sky. No. Instead, Hiro stood in the same place staring up at the warehouse as Baymax stood patiently and curiously to his side with not a single question being asked..

“This is,” Hiro murmured in recognition. “Isn’t this… that abandoned warehouse?”

It had been almost two years since he had been here, but even so, he didn’t think he would ever forget this place. This was the place where it all began. The place where Baymax brought his haywire microbot, the place where he found barrels upon barrels of his microbots being mass produced under his nose. The same place where he was attacked with his own invention by the man in the Kabuki-mask. The man who he learned was none other than Professor Robert Callaghan. Tadashi’s professor… and his murderer.

_He’s not worth thinking about._

It’s been a while since Hiro last thought of Callaghan, but not a day passes when Hiro doesn’t think of Tadashi, however, not in a depressed, grieving way like it probably would’ve been had his friends (and even Tadashi himself) not helped him to move on from his death, but in a way where he would always smile and remember the good times they had. And that was enough for Hiro.

That was enough for him.

That should have been enough for him, but he couldn’t deny that he had always wanted one last thing from Tadashi. He wanted a way to thank his brother for everything. Not just for how his brother didn’t give up on him but for every moment in his life that Tadashi had been there. It was hard to know that Hiro could never get that.

But lingering in the past and trapping himself in what-ifs would reverse the whole moving-on process he had trudged so far into, and Hiro knew he had to keep pushing forward.

He pulled his eyes away and turned his back to the warehouse. “C’mon, Baymax. Lets get to the university.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey, guys, anyone here?” Hiro called out at the entrance of the empty 'nerd lab.' He shrugged. “Guess they went out for lunch or something. Well then, lets get you patched up, buddy.” he said playfully patting the robot’s round belly.

“That would be very much appreciated.” Baymax responded.

Leading his robot friend by the hand, the pair headed towards Hiro’s workspace, expecting to find the usual cluttered mess he seems to always leave behind, similar to his own room back at home, but to his surprise it… was clean? That’s weird. Did somebody tidy things up? It was usually out of common courtesy that the others didn’t mess with his stuff though, and hopefully they didn’t decide to try anything funny today.

“Great, now I don’t know where’s what!” Hiro grumbled as he shifted through the closets and drawers until he finally found Baymax’s usual charger. Huh. Did the colors seem a bit dulled down? Maybe he just didn’t notice after two years of constant use of the thing, but if somebody had decided to sort out his work space couldn’t they have put such an important thing in a less remote, more visible area?

“This is why I hate it when people mess with my things.” the teen muttered as he took out a few tools to work on Baymax’s scanners.

It didn’t take way too long to get him all fixed up again; in fact, it seemed like there were only a few minor problems here and there. Nothing a robotics major couldn’t easily fix.

Once Hiro finished his handiwork he smiled a lopsided smile and stood, hands on his hips, in front of Baymax.

“Alright, Baymax. Test scan me!”

“Scanning.” A brief pause ensued. “Your blood pressure levels and heart rate are normal. However it seems your mood swings are more frequent, and you are experiencing hormonal change. Diagnosis:” the robot raised a finger. “puberty.”

“Alright, alright. What’s with you always pointing out that I’m going through puberty?” Hiro sighed with a smile as he put away his tools.

“It is merely a biological process that I would like for you to be aware of, in case you are concerned about your sudden growth, unstable mood, and sudden urges to--”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Hiro exclaimed waving his hands for Baymax to stop. “It seems like you’re all good to go then.”

At that moment, the sound of doors opening and several laughing voices could be heard entering from the other room, quickly catching Hiro’s attention. That was probably the gang. Maybe now was a good time to talk about his odd experience of crash-landing out of some weird pit of darkness, but first thing’s first….

“Hey, as much as I appreciate the gesture, I’d really prefer you guys not going through my stuff in there, y’know,” Hiro said casually as he walked out of his lab area to join his friends. “I sort of had a set system in there.”

Hiro stopped in his tracks when deathly silence responded to him. That and four pairs of eyes opening wider than they were probably meant to be. Four pairs of eyes that were all directed at and burning holes into the confused teen.

Hiro blinked and stared back in surprise. “What,” he started a bit nervous by the uncomfortable attention he was receiving. “What’s wrong? Something on my face?”

His friends’ eyes only continued to stare back at him with what seemed to be shock, but this time a few jaws slowly dropped.

“No way….” Fred murmured.

“Is anybody else seeing this?” Wasabi asked lowly under his breath.

“Is that…?” Honey Lemon whispered hands covering her mouth.

Although his mind usually processes things at a high-speed rate, Hiro couldn’t quite process what had happened when he found his face being pressed against the cold lab floor, with a weight on his back and an excessively firm grip holding down his neck and head.

“H-hey!” Hiro cried out as he struggled against the sudden assault. “What are you---”

“Who are you?!” a harsh voice growled.

“Gogo, why are you---”

“ _Who. Are. You?_ ” she growled menacing tone that sent shivers up Hiro’s spine.

“Gogo!” Honey, Fred, and Wasabi all cried out.

“Let go, you’re,” it sounded like Honey hesitated for a second. “I think you’re hurting him.”

“Yeah, you kinda are!” Hiro rasped, as Gogo continued grounding her knee against his spine. A sharp pain shot up his back, effectively halting his squirming.

“Not until he answers my question!” she retorted, yanking and twisting Hiro’s arm behind him.

“Ow! Stop that!” he cried out.

_What is she doing?!_

“Why is he here?” she seemed to ask nobody in particular. “He-- he should be dead!”

“Wait.” Hiro’s eyes widened. “What?”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited chapter 1 a bit, due to some stylistic preferences and a few mistakes, but anyways, here’s the next chapter!

"What do you mean I’m supposed to be dead?” Hiro asked, a mixture of confusion and shock evident on his face. Gogo simply responded with a sharp twist of his arm. “Ow, ow!”

Wasabi, looking as nervous and confused as everyone else stepped forward and said, “Look, Gogo, maybe we shouldn’t resort to these sort of," he paused searching for the right word. " _Tactics_. I have no idea what’s going on either, but what you’re doing isn’t helping.”

“Yeah, cause I mean…. I’m not saying this isn’t weird, but I’m sure there’s a reason why uh... _He's_ here.” Fred said hesitantly, blatantly skirting around Hiro's name as if it were an ill omen.

_What in the world is going on?_

Hiro was tempted to label this situation as some sort of humorless prank, but he wasn’t entirely convinced that Gogo’s assault and cold demeanor towards him was mere acting.

“I’ve seen my fair share of strange and unusual things, and _this_ ” she pointed at the teen below her, “Is no exception!”

_Ow, okay. That stung a bit._

“There is no ‘good’ explanation for this. For all we know, this could be some sort of trick.” she scoffed. "Somebody trying to take us down from the inside, or maybe even some sick joke on...." she trailed off, her eyes suddenly taking an interesting to the corner of the room.

“Could you please just tell me what’s going?!” Hiro gasped from beneath Gogo. His ribcage felt just about ready to burst from the excessive pressure.

Just as he had uttered his raspy question, he was suddenly able to hear the familiar shuffle of vinyl feet entering the room.

“Hiro,” Baymax’s soothing voice stated. “I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the problem?”

The next thing Hiro could hear was something, possibly from one of the lab tables, clattering onto the floor, and then… silence. Thick, tangible silence. As he turned his eyes upward, he once again witnessed several pairs of widening eyes, burning holes, this time, into Baymax. But something was wrong…. Their eyes seemed to hold something different from when they saw Hiro walk into the room. An emotion even stronger than their previous shock. Something more reminiscent of...

“My sensors indicate rising stress levels, increased breathing, and elevated heart rates.” Baymax stated as he tilted his head. “These are indications of: fear.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Was it really necessary to tie me to a chair like this?” Hiro asked shifting uncomfortably within his restraints. “It’s not like I was gonna go anywhere.”

“They’re precautions, I guess. Sorry about that.” Wasabi apologized. The avoidance of eye contact didn’t go unnoticed by the smaller teen.

“Was locking up Baymax in my lab supposed to be a ‘precaution’ too?” he muttered irritably.

“Well, technically that lab hasn’t been occupied for two years, so it’s really nobody’s at this point,” Fred chimed in although not in the usual energetic manner that defined him. He too kept his gaze elsewhere.

“But yes, that was also a necessary precaution.” Honey Lemon added nervously, her eyes looking anywhere but Hiro.

The way they were speaking to him was really trying his patience. If this really was some kind of joke, he seriously couldn’t rack up how his friends would come up with a cruel prank like this!

“And how about this whole ‘don’t look Hiro in the eye thing’ going on right now? Is _that_ also a precaution? ” he cried out in frustration.

Hiro flinched as a gloved palm slammed onto the table in front of him, noticing within a second that he was just inches away from the coldest look that Hiro had ever locked eyes on, and when it comes to Gogo, that was saying a lot.

“No.” Gogo said, intimidatingly popping a bubble. Even after two years of being friends with her, Hiro still couldn’t quite grasp how she could make any action of hers appear so menacing.

“A-alright.” Hiro managed to choke out.

“We just want to know what you’re doing here.” Wasabi said approaching the chair the teen sat in.

“And how for that manner.” Gogo added, apparently refusing to let up her cold staredown.

“Also, why the heck marshmallow man is here with you!” Fred said nervously as he fidgeted with his fingers.

Hiro’s head spun at the plethora of questions. How was he even supposed to answer them if he himself had no idea what was going on or why his friends were blowing everything out of proportion? Just a second ago, they refused to even look at Hiro; why did they choose now of all times to drown him with discomforting stares? How did they expect him to give any remotely decent answer under such pressure?

“I-I….” Hiro stammered nervously, looking up at all the hard gazes concentrated on him.

A warm, gentle hand suddenly placed itself onto Hiro’s shoulder, interrupting his own onslaught of questions. When he trailed up the hand, he locked eyes with Honey Lemon’s large green orbs, as she gave him a sad yet sympathetic smile.

“If you could please just cooperate and answer our questions, it would make things easier for all of us.” she said. “I’m sorry we have to treat you like this, but we’re just… confused and,” she paused. “Concerned.”

“Well, I’m pretty confused myself here, and I’m fifty percent sure that you guys are trying to pull some crazy, totally unfunny prank on me,” Hiro was interrupted by another intense glare shot from Gogo, “And now I’m ninety-five percent sure you’re not.”

Ignoring his comment, Honey asked, “Can we ask you if you’re… if you’re Hiro?”

Hiro raised an eyebrow.

“I mean,” he looked down at himself. He was wearing his usual blue SFIT sweatshirt and his mid-calf cargos. His hair was definitely still a mess, probably more so after that smackdown with Gogo. “I don’t see why I wouldn’t be.”

“Then how did you even get here, little dude?” Fred asked quietly.

“What do you mean? I just came in through the front like I do every morning. Although, I did kind of go through something weird right before tha--”

“What he means is: how are you even _here_? Existing in front of us?” Gogo rephrased popping her bubble nonchalantly.

Was this going back to that whole thing about how he’s supposed to be dead? “I don’t really... understand.”

“Look,” Wasabi started. “You… you died in a fire back at the university’s exhibition hall _two years ago_.”

“So again, we ask: how are you here?” Honey Lemon finished in a firmer tone.

Hiro blinked. Once. Then twice.

The SFIT exhibition hall… two years ago… a fire….

“What are you guys even talking about? Tadashi,” Hiro paused for a second. He was moving on from his brother's death. He was moving on. He knew he was. He just has to accept it. “Tadashi was the one who died in that fire.”

The silence that followed was just about as thick as the lump in Hiro’s throat. He looked up to only meet four deadpan faces staring back at him, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

“Great.” Gogo muttered. “Now he’s spouting nonsense.”

“Hey! I’m telling the truth!” Hiro protested. “It’s been a while, but I still remember that day pretty clearly y’know. Tadashi rushing into that building, me not being able to stop him, the… the explosion. And now I’m here, telling you this, so I’m very much positive that I’m alive.”

“If you’re so alive, then explain how we all went to Hiro Hamada’s funeral, which is by the way only held for someone who is dead.” Gogo challenged.

“Look, despite whatever you claim about me being dead, the fact doesn’t change that I’m here in front of you living and breathing!” the teen snapped. “But if you don’t believe me, just have Baymax scan me, and you’ll see that I _am_ Hiro Hamada, and that’s who I have been for my entire life.”

There was something about his name -- Baymax’s name to be specific -- that made the gang recoil and exchange wary glances. It was one thing to treat Hiro like he had blood on his hands, but why Baymax too?

"What’s wrong?" the teen asked as the gang exchanged nervous whispers amongst themselves.

Honey Lemon was the first to look back at him. "Where did you get that robot?"

"You mean Baymax? Don’t you remember? Tadashi made him! " Hiro exclaimed in disbelief. "Or I guess technically I made this Baymax."

“ _You_ made him?” Wasabi asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I had to. After Baymax left himself in that space-dimensional portal thing that tore itself apart.”

“Okay.” Wasabi said making a face. “Now you’ve lost me.”

“That sounds totally awesome!” Fred exclaimed, with a face that looked more reminiscent of the Fred that Hiro knew. With the rest of his friends acting in such a bizarre manner, it was definitely a reassuring sight for him. “It sounds just like those dramatic climax scenes in--”

“Aside from all the questions I have about your proclaimed ‘space adventures’,” Gogo interrupted making finger quotes as she spoke to Hiro. “Is your robot stable?”

“Uh, he’s functioning like normal if that’s what you’re asking.”

“What I’m asking is,” Gogo crossed her arms. “Is your robot a killing machine?”

“What?” Hiro’s eyes widened. “No! Of course not. He’s a healthcare unit; he’s nowhere near violent! I mean not unless I command him to attack something,” He noticed a few of his friends stiffen. “but um that’s just because of his karate database. He usually knows when to draw the line on his own… unless of course, I removed his fighting chip, but that hasn’t happened since…” Hiro trailed off, turning his gaze downcast. Shameful memories flashed in his head as he remembered how he turned on his friends, worried them _and_ left them on an abandoned island. Pretty much all of the things a true leader wouldn’t do.

“Not since…?” Honey Lemon urged.

“Since I uh… tried to kill Callaghan.” Hiro answered quietly.

The teen could hear Wasabi groan loudly in a mixture of confusion and frustration. “None of this is making any sense!” he exclaimed. “Is anyone here getting this? Cause I’m most certainly not understanding a single thing here! We were the ones who went after Callaghan weren’t we? Hiro was dead long before we pursued him… wasn’t he?”

“Look, just let Baymax scan me, and you’ll see that I’m not lying!” Hiro said. “About anything.”

Everybody seemed to turn to Gogo. It was as if she were their designated leader, and in all honesty, their obvious reliance on Gogo made him feel a bit hurt. He had worked so hard for two years building himself up to be the proper leader that his friends could put their trust in and to be a leader they can respect, but now in a sudden sweep, all of that effort was stripped from him as if it meant nothing at all. He just couldn’t believe it. And he could tell that Gogo wasn’t believing _him_ either.

However as she solidly stared the teen straight in the eye, she popped a bubble and said, “Get the bot.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Bayma--” Suddenly, a strip of duct tape was slapped across Hiro’s mouth, cutting him off mid-sentence

“Oh no you don’t.” Gogo said with a smirk as she tossed a roll of duct tape in one hand. “We’re still just getting to know you. Can’t risk having you call out any sketchy commands to that bot now, can we?”

Wasabi looked down at Hiro, with a sliver of sympathy evident in his eyes. “You know, this is starting to seem a bit… excessive.”

“Just another precaution.” Honey noted with a meek smile directed at the restrained teen.

“Can’t risk anything, like our heads getting blown off or something like that, you know.” Fred said with a simple shrug.

All Hiro could do was groan and glare in irritation, while Baymax simply tilted his head to the side, oblivious to the situation.

“My sensors indicate that---”

“Hey. Robot. How about you use those sensors of yours to scan this guy here.” Gogo said interrupting the robot, thumb jutting towards the tied teen. “Tell us about him and who he is. Name, age, and everything.”

“Understood. Please wait a few seconds as I scan the target.” Baymax stated. As blue light briefly flashed from the robot’s eyes, Hiro’s friends seemed to take a fearful step back; he still couldn’t fathom why they were acting like this around Baymax. “Scan complete. The target in question is my patient, Hiro Hamada.”

Hiro glared at Gogo with a look that scoffed, _“I told you so.”_ Unfortunately for him, he was ignored.

“What do you mean ‘your patient’?” Gogo questioned suspiciously. “We were told that he created you.”

“It is true that Hiro rebuilt me, but my initial creator is Tadashi Hamada who passed away two years ago.” Confused murmurs immediately emerged amongst the college students.

“So I guess... he was telling the truth.” Wasabi said, a hint of disbelief still lingering in his voice.

Hand on her chin, Honey Lemon whispered, “But what does this mean?”

“During that time, Hiro Hamada became my patient due to certain difficulties.” Baymax paused. “I am sorry, but I have been programmed by Tadashi and Hiro to follow a patient-doctor confidentiality agreement, and so I am not able to discuss the matter further without Hiro’s permission first.”

It was then that everybody turned to look at Hiro, only to see a disgruntled teen glaring at them in annoyance. Talking about his feelings, especially from such a vulnerable time, wasn’t an especially ideal option, but it seems to be the only choice that would sway his friends to finally believe him.

“Lets just get something straight before I let you talk.” she said popping a bubble before leaning down to eye level with Hiro. “I’ll take this tape off only if you agree to let that robot tell us more about you, but if you even try to utter out a single suspicious or hostile command, we’ll do more than just tie you up like a princess. We wouldn’t hesitate to take more drastic measures.”

“I-I would.” Wasabi barely said under his breath.

“So, do you understand?”

Hiro battled against Gogo’s glare with a defiant one of his own.

It’s just a fact from the past. It won’t do any harm. It’s all… in the past.

Before the teen could take any chance to look away, a hand jerked Hiro’s chin upwards, forcing him to look Gogo in the eye.

“I said: do. You. Under. Stand?” Gogo stated more forcibly.

He didn’t. He didn’t understand. Everything that was happening, he didn’t understand any of it.

And yet, he still found himself nodding reluctantly

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ow!” Hiro yelped, the prominent feeling of fire licking at his face lingering as Gogo balled up the strip of duct tape.

Baymax shuffled forward, displaying the usual pain scale chart on his stomach. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”

“Zero.” Hiro uttered, wishing he wasn’t tied up so that he could rub away the stinging feeling on his mouth. “I’m fine Baymax.”

“Are you certain that you are fine? My sensors indicate that you are currently feeling--”

“Baymax, I’m fine don’t worry!” Hiro said a bit too loudly.

Baymax seemed to take a moment to process that. If he had the ability to make any other expression, Hiro was sure that Baymax would have sympathy strewn across his face, but thankfully he began talking again.

“Hiro, I have been asked to talk about incidents involving your previous medical records. Do I have your permission to speak with your friends about it?”

“Yeah.” he muttered. “I guess you do but don’t go too far into the details, okay?”

“Understood.” With that, Baymax turned toward the SFIT students once again, continuing from where he left off. “After Tadashi’s death, Hiro became my patient due to his resulting grief. It was my job and goal to help him deal with that grief, which was gradually achieved after Hiro, Gogo, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, and myself became what Hiro calls the Big Hero 6. That goal was further reached after Abigail Callaghan was saved and when Robert Callaghan was sent to prison. However due to certain events with his friends, Hiro is currently trying to deal wi--”

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Wasabi interrupted. “We got Callaghan into prison?”

“Abigail Callaghan?” Honey Lemon murmured. “When did we save Professor Callaghan’s daughter?”

“We became superheroes with _Hiro_?” Fred asked with his jaw dropped.

Hiro frowned.

 _You don’t have to say it like I’m not cut out to fight with you guys_.

“How is this possible….” Gogo whispered, a skeptical look still glued to her face.

“I took the liberty earlier to scan the four of you, and I can confirm that while there are indeed many similarities between you four and Hiro’s friends, there are also some differences that indicate that you four are not the same Gogo, Honey, Wasabi, and Fred that Hiro has spent the past two years with.”

Needless to say, eyebrows were raised.

“You… you kinda lost me now, Buddy.” Hiro managed to say.

They looked exactly like the friends he always went to school with and hung out with, so how was it possible that the people in front of him standing in this lab weren’t actually them? The idea was just preposterous! Although Hiro had to admit, that would definitely explain why his friends were acting like they had acquired some sort of dissociative amnesia, but if the four of his friend look-alikes in front of him weren’t actually his friends… what did that mean?

“Wait just a minute! Hold the phone!” Fred spoke up as he took a step forward. “I’ve seen something like this before!” he exclaimed throwing his hands up.

“I swear if you compare it to another one of your comic books…” Wasabi said crossing his arms.

“It’s _exactly_ like what happened in my comic book!” he said, receiving a tired grumble of “of course” from Wasabi. “Think about it! This Hiro in front of us has memories that are significantly different from our own memories of the past two years. He says that Tadashi died in the SFIT fire, when we know that Hiro was the one who died.” Fred began to pace. “He says that he formed a superhero group with us, when we definitely made our group with…” He paused and bit his lip nervously. “Yeah... with him”

Hiro raised an eyebrow. “Him? Who’s ‘him’?” he asked in confusion.

Fred continued, ignoring the teen’s question. “According to Hiro, or I guess according to the uh marshmallow guy, Robert Callaghan was put in jail and Abigail Callaghan was somehow saved. In our time, Robert Callaghan is dead,” Hiro wasn’t sure if he just imagined it, but he could’ve sworn that he saw a dark expression flash across his friends’ face. “And Abigail Callaghan is still, and has been, presumably dead.”

_The Callaghans are dead? But how?_

“Get to the point already,” Gogo growled impatiently.

“Don’t you see?” Fred gestured his arms towards Hiro. “This Hiro must be from a different timeline! An alternate universe or something!”

“Okay, now you’re just speaking nonsense.” Wasabi stated.

“No,” Honey Lemon spoke up, surprising the others. “I think Fred might be on to something.”

“See? It’s totally possible!” Fred said with an excited look on his face.

_An alternate universe…. That might explain that strange falling experience from earlier today. Although, I can’t say for certain that it’s related to this whole alternate timeline shenanigan, but if this really is some other world where I died, then that means there would have to have been a different catalyst that started the Big Hero 6…._

“I don’t believe it.” Gogo said, crossing her arms.

“Gogo, didn’t you say it yourself?” Honey Lemon started. “We’ve all seen enough crazy things in our lives to know that what we’re seeing here is definitely no exception.”

“Well, I wasn’t really implying that universe hopping was an exception.” Gogo added.

“But the fact that he’s here makes my theory all the more possible!” Fred added.

 _Fred had talked about someone. He referred to that person as_ ‘him’ _and looked at no one in particular; that must mean the person he mentioned isn’t in the room at this moment._

“Look, how about we scan him and see how old he is.” Wasabi pointed out. “Dead people shouldn’t be able to age right?”

“Good idea,” Honey Lemon said as she turned to Baymax. “Baymax? Could you please tell us how old Hiro is?”

_There’s one person in this room who shouldn’t be here but is, and that would be me I guess, so the other person who should be here but isn’t...isn’t that…?_

“Hiro Hamada is currently sixteen years old and in good health. Should nothing happen to harm his health, it would be safe to assume that he will live a moderately long life.” Baymax stated.

_But that would be…._

“Dead people can’t age you say?” Fred challenged. “Well look now! He’s two years older than he was at the SFIT fire!”

_That would mean…._

“Tch.” Gogo closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

_Tadashi is--_

“Is my brother… is Tadashi alive?” Hiro asked, eyes that looked at no one in particular widening in revelation.

Fred’s insistent persuasions were immediately silenced as soon as that name left Hiro’s tongue. When Hiro lifted his eyes, he only found himself looking back at four pairs of unreadable stares.

“Is he here?” Hiro continued more frantically.

“Hiro, your heart rate is drastically increasing,” Baymax stated. “Please make sure to take deeper and slower breaths to avoid hyperventilation.”

“Please,” Hiro begged, disregarding his robot companion. “If he’s alive, then I just-- I need to see hi--”

All he had seen was a blur, before the sound of thunder bounced off of the lab walls, stunning the teen into silence. Blinking once, he took notice of Gogo’s palm smashed against the table in front of him, and as his eyes traced from her hand up her arm and to her face, his wide eyes met with a fierce glare tinged with… pain?

“Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for keeping you guys waiting! I kind of like having at least one upcoming chapter written out and ready for editing before posting another chapter, but Chapter 3 is kind of long, so of course, progress is a bit slow at this point (school is also a pesky factor, but that still doesn’t excuse my slowness)!
> 
> I don’t want you guys to think that I’m ditching this fanfic though, so I thought it was about time to post the next chapter. It’s a bit dialogue heavy this time around, but hopefully its still interesting! There are still so many things to explain, but that will happen gradually as the story progresses~ I hope you stay with me in the process, and thank you for your support!
> 
> Also just in case you’re wondering why Hiro still isn’t fully over Tadashi’s death, I mentioned in the summary that he was learning to move on, which means he’s still in the process of moving on! It also has to do with how (as mentioned in the previous chapter) he still has things he wants to tell Tadashi.
> 
> Anyways, that’s all for now, but if you have the time, please tell me what you think~


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